Crash thread....

[SCFatz]

I think will be a very helpful thread,or at least I hope it works out that way.

Tell us about your crashes.

How did they happen?How long did it take?What contributed iyo?What (if anything) are you sure you did exactly wrong?What was the end result?ect ect ect

I really believe a consolidated thread about worse case scenerios and how things got in that shape will save some us SW noobs a lot of heart ache down the road.

So crack open a beer or pour a glass of wine (or coke for you kiddos) and key in the details of this hobbies nightmare.

 

[SCFatz]

Or perhaps not lol

 

[SeeDemTails]

I had a cheap heater break and cook a tank.....

I use visitherm stealth heaters now!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I've had caulerpa go sexual in my tank before. I can't really directly contribute anything to it, but right after it happened I lost 2 zoo colonies. I learned to always keep caulerpa trimmed, no matter now good it looks!

 

[loyalrogue]

After doing a round of water testing on my tanks I forgot to wash my hands and reached into one of the tanks to position something.
Within the hour the featherduster had come out of his tube and died, a Peppermint shrimp died, a Barberpole goby died, and a Bengali cardinal died.
I did a couple of emergency 80-90% waterchanges and managed to keep a camel shrimp, a Rainford goby, and some crabs alive.

Since then I've been fanatical about washing after touching any testing chemicals.
I bought a pair of arm-length reefgloves but I can only use them when I'm not working with something delicate because they're too thick IMO.

 

[JG]

I had a cheap heater break and cook a tank.....

I use visitherm stealth heaters now!

Same here ... but fotunately not a complete crash. I lost a couple of corals and a coral beauty.

I also had an anemone die and poison the tank while on vacation. Almost a complete loss.

Had a powerhead burn underwater and contaminate water with plastic chemicals - very few losses .... but required complete water change ( 90 gallon tank changed and reset in under 5 hours)

 

[SCFatz]

Cool stuff so far.Most things listed seem like physical problems with mechanical equipment.

I See I need to be a lot more careful with the testing reagents....I've never had an issue,but the way I have been doing it I'm asking for trouble.

I have no idea what this means lol:

I've had caulerpa go sexual in my tank before. I can't really directly contribute anything to it, but right after it happened I lost 2 zoo colonies.

 

[Guest]

Let me see if I can explain as a still newbie.

Caulerpa grows quickly. It is said to release toxins while going "sexual" and reproducing that can harm inhabitants...I think!

I believe it does but you will have conflciting opinions. Some people swear by it in a fuge and others would never.

 

[Mikebaker]

I once set up my 77 FOWLR with sand which i got from a friend from the local golf course. It turned out to be pure, unadulterated silica sand.... OOPS! after a series of absolutely incredible outbreaks of diatoms, cyano, and greenwater, my coral beauty misteriously died, after his fins completely erroded (i used a freshwater product to clear the water which may have contributed to this) Now i don't use any chemicals, and only use caribsea substrates. this is not the place to save money!

 

[angelscrx]

Let me see if I can explain as a still newbie.

Caulerpa grows quickly. It is said to release toxins while going "sexual" and reproducing that can harm inhabitants...I think!

I believe it does but you will have conflciting opinions. Some people swear by it in a fuge and others would never.

Cualerpa goes asexual and does release toxins into the water when doing this. If you have cualerpa in your sump it is recommended to keep the lights on 24 hours a day as this will minimize the chance of it going a sexual. Also recommended to trim or harvest it quite regularly out of the water and not in the water as this will also release toxins into the water. My recommedation is to stay away from cualerpa and use brillo or spaghetti algae.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Yes. Sorry for not explaining Fatz.

The toxins include gametes from the caulerpa being released into the water. Hence the "sexual" name. It usually irritates alot of corals and can affect water quality. Most of the time, major water changes are needed (like 80-90% daily for 2-3 days) depending on how bad the event is.